


By Any Other Name

by Superheroindisguise



Series: Discovery 'Verse [5]
Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: F/M, Romance, naming fic, possible 04e08-09 Silence in the Library/Forest of the Dead spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-01
Updated: 2016-04-01
Packaged: 2018-05-30 12:27:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,144
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6424039
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Superheroindisguise/pseuds/Superheroindisguise
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Look being trapped in a library full of flesh eating shadows trying to kill you at every turn would put a damper on anyone's enthusiasm…." An innocent question leads to the Doctor making a big decision in his life.</p>
            </blockquote>





	By Any Other Name

“Ok, seriously what is your issue?” Rose demanded as she watched the Doctor absently and yet again give the entrance to the library a wide berth. “Are you suddenly anti-libraries now?”

“What…?” The Doctor’s head snapped up as he stopped fiddling with the doohickey in his hands (Rose still had no clue what he was working on, but it kept him from blowing up her mother’s kitchen appliances, so she was in no rush to question it). “No...no... libraries are great, libraries are brilliant, fantastic, molto bene.” He looked at her as if she’d just grown two heads.

“Then why are you avoiding it like the plague?” Hands on hips Rose stared the Doctor down.

“Oh I am not!” The Doctor protested, then stopped to think head slightly cocked, “Am I...?”

“Yes you are and it’s weirding me out. There was a time when I used to have to drag you out of places like this but now I can’t get you anywhere near it. The one time I did see you in there you were as nervous as a cat in a room full of rocking chairs, practically jumping out of your skin at every shadow….” Rose trailed off as the Doctor suddenly flinched at the mention of shadows. “What?”

“Nothing, nothing.” The doctor looked away, scratching the back of his neck. “It’s nothing.”

“ _ Doctor _ ,” Rose used  _ that _ tone, the one that always led to the Doctor talking about all manner of things he’d rather not, but it was Rose and in the long run he never could deny her anything.

He let out a long suffering sigh, shoving his doohickey into his jacket pocket. “I’m sorry, ok? I didn’t even realize I was doing it, I guess things had more of an impact on me than I thought. Now that I know I’ll work on not letting it affect me so much.” He briefly hoped that, that would satisfy her and she’d let it drop, but quickly squashed that notion knowing from experience that it wouldn’t and she wouldn’t. “Look being trapped in a library full of flesh eating shadows trying to kill you at every turn would put a damper on anyone’s enthusiasm….”

Rose made a ‘continue on’ motion when the Doctor let the silence hang just a little too long. “Flesh eating shadows…?”

“Yes...well no...not the shadows themselves exactly but the things  _ in _ the shadows….” he trailed off again trying to gather his thoughts.

“ _ Doctor _ ” Rose was starting to get frustrated, normally the Doctor loved talking about his adventures and the things he’d encountered, but this was like trying to get blood out of a rock. If she’d known that her innocent question was going to end up being one of those deeply personal things that they only ever gave voice to in the dead of night (usually after a particularly nasty nightmare left one of them shaking in panic and fear) never to be spoken of again in the light of day, she’d have picked a better time and place to bring it up (i.e. not in broad daylight, in the middle of a  _ very _ public hallway where anyone could stumble across them at any moment).

Moving over to the wall opposite the library entrance the Doctor leaned against it and slid down to sit on the ground his knees pulled up. “I’m sorry, I am, I’m not intentionally trying to be difficult,” and he wasn’t, there was just something about the whole thing that he was having difficulty expressing, trouble putting into words, which was a rare occurrence for the Doctor.

Sliding down to sit next to him, Rose took hold of his hand and laid her head on his shoulder. “It’s ok take your time, just start from the beginning.”

And so he did, he told her about receiving the mysterious message on the psychic paper, about taking Donna to the library to investigate, about the Vashta Nerada, and about Professor River Song. “She knew my name Rose, my real honest to god name, for her to know it---. I’m not even in that universe any more and the implications of it here are meaningless and yet I  _ still _ can’t bring myself to tell you and I’ve wanted to, oh how I’ve wanted to, I’ve tried, that first morning after we made love that pattern I kept drawing on you that was my name Rose in Gallifreyan. It was the only way I could think of to tell you, because any other way I can’t, I just...I just  _ can’t _ .”

“Hey it’s ok, it’s ok,” Rose pulled the Doctor’s arm over her shoulder and burrowed in closer to his side wrapping her arms around his chest. “I understand, really I do.”

“You do?” The Doctor rested his cheek on top of Rose’s head wrapping his own arms around her.

“Yeah I do. Trust me I know the power of a name. I know how the wrong word at the wrong time can change everything.” Rose nodded as she thought of her many trips through the void into parallel universes trying to find the Doctor and save the stars. “So maybe…”

“Maybe what?”

_‘Come on, this is as good a time as any’_ Rose thought as she steeled herself and pulled away from the Doctor just enough to look him in the eyes. This was actually something she’d been thinking about for awhile now she’d just not been sure how to bring it up without upsetting the Doctor. “Maybe it’s time you picked a new name for yourself. One that’s wholly and uniquely yours.” Knowing that the Doctor was about to protest Rose held a hand up to stall him. “Wait just hear me out first, please.”

Giving her the benefit of the doubt the Doctor relented, pulling Rose back in and again resting his cheek on the top of her head.

“Thank you,” Rose started softly rubbing her thumb back and forth where it rested over his heart. “I know that up until the point that you were created you and the Doctor were one and the same, same memories, same everything, but honestly Doctor you’re not Him anymore, not exactly, and He’s not you anymore either. Yes you have a shared past but right here right now as of this moment you are both your own unique persons. You need to stop trying to be an exact carbon copy of your former self and start being you, whoever that is. I’m not saying that you should deny and forget your past, it’s your history after all, it helped shape you into the person you are now. I’m not even saying that you should give up the Doctor either, because honestly no matter what you decide I’ll probably still call you that most of the time anyway, I’m just saying that maybe it’s time that you started building a life, a real life, for yourself here and started living  _ your _ life not somebody else's.”

“Rose Tyler,” the Doctor cupped Rose’s face tilting it up to look at him. “I would very much like to kiss you right now.” And that’s just what he did, it wasn’t overly passionate, or breath taking, or drawn out, it was just a simple, gentle loving kiss that some how managed to convey everything that words couldn’t accurately articulate about the Doctor’s feelings. He pulled away slowly resting his forehead against Rose’s. “I don’t know what I ever did to deserve you in my life because you Rose Tyler deserve  _ sooo _ much better than me. I thank the stars everyday that you allow me the privilege of being in your life.”

Before Rose could even begin to form a response the Doctor was suddenly up on his feet full of barely contained energy just waiting to be unleashed. “Now tell me how does one go about getting a name? I assume under the usual normal circumstances a name is not something that one gives to one’s self but these aren’t usual circumstance and never let it be said that anything about me is normal…” Grabbing Rose’s hand he pulled her along with him into the library, muttering something about finding a baby naming book, surely there had to be at least one lying around somewhere, after all Pete and Jackie had to have gotten Tony’s name from somewhere.

Grinning all Rose could do was hold on tight as she willing boarded the roller coaster ride known as ‘The Doctor’ and hoped that she could manage to keep her arms, legs, and feet inside the cart at all times without fear of injury.

“So what do you think?” The Doctor stopped suddenly whirling around to face Rose. 

“About what?” Stopping just short of bumping into him Rose realised that she missed the last little bit of what the Doctor had been saying.

The Doctor rolled his eyes, “About naming me.”

“Naming you?” She wasn’t following. “You want me to name you?”

“Yes...well...I mean that’s how you humans do it right?” The Doctor started to look uncertain about his thought process. “You don’t name yourselves, someone else does it for you. You didn’t pick the name Rose…”

“No my parents did...but Doctor I’m not your mother.” Up went an eyebrow as she watched the Doctor start squirming.

“What!? No, of course you’re not, that’s not what I…” This was not going the way the Doctor had played out in his head. “What you are is someone very important to me, someone who’s opinion I trust impeccably---.”

“Doctor I’d be honored to  _ help _ you find a name.” Rose took the Doctor’s hand leading him over to a couch tucked away in the back corner of the room. “But ultimately in the end the choice is yours and yours alone.”

“Right, right. So...” the Doctor plopped down pulling Rose with him “...Miss Rose Tyler any ideas?”

“Well there’s the obvious John Smith, you seemed fond of that one in the past.” The two paused for a beat before both scrunching their faces up and shaking their heads.

“Nah, that sounds too much like an alias, which was the point. It was meant to be bland, unassuming, easily forgettable. I want a good strong name, something that makes people stop and take notice, something like...something like….”

“Like ‘The Doctor’” Rose summed up.

“Yes! exactly.” Realizing that she was poking fun at him, the Doctor turned to wag a finger at Rose, “you cheeky….”

* * *

“No, absolutely not!”

“But Rose you said----.”

“I know damn well what I said and as a woman I’m overriding my previous statement and exercising my veto rights. You are not naming yourself Alonzo.” Hands on hips Rose dared the Doctor to challenge her.

Letting out a frustrated sigh the Doctor tossed the pen he’d been fiddling with down on the desk that was covered with various naming books and scrunched up balls of paper that held many lists of discarded names. They’d been at this for what felt like forever and were still no closer to finding a name that suited him, he was beginning to think maybe John Smith wasn’t such a bad idea after all. Leaning his elbows on the desk the Doctor scrubbed his hands through his hair before resting his head on them. “Remind me again why we’re doing this?”

“Because it’s time you started living  _ your _ life, that means creating a life for yourself here, a proper domestic life and in order to do that you need a proper name even if it is something you mostly only ever use on paper.”

“Domestic” the Doctor shuttered spitting the word out like something foul tasting.

“Yes domestic, trust me Doctor it won’t kill you.” Rolling her eyes in annoyance, Rose’s gaze fell on a copy of a Harry Potter book sitting on the shelf behind the Doctor's head. The name Harry had of course been struck from the list early on for many reasons the least of which was that it was short for Harold which had been the name the Master had used when last he and the Doctor had met, and that would just be opening up a whole other can of worms the Doctor wasn’t ready to deal with, but it did reminder her of another name the Doctor had once used. “What about James?”

“James?” the Doctor lifted his head up.

“Yes James, it’s a good strong name, plus you’ve used it before so you can’t be too adverse to it.”

“I have when?” He squinted his eyes at Rose as if he wasn’t sure if she was playing him or not. “Oh right back in Scotland, the werewolf thing. Don’t know what possessed me to use that name probably something about being back there made me nostalgic….”

“Nostalgic?” Rose could see that the Doctor was getting lost in thought. “Nostalgic about what?”

“Hmm? Oh nothing really just an old,  _ old _ companion of mine. Jamie McCrimmon his name was, good kid….kinda got the short end of the stick now that I stop and think about it…”

“So no on the name then?” Rose deflated reaching to grab a book off the desk.

“Oh I don’t know about that….” the Doctor shrugged his shoulders. For some reason he couldn’t pinpoint the name was speaking to him. “McCrimmon no definitely not, but James….I think I could be ok with that. The only one so far that’s pique my interest other than Alonzo…”

“No.” Rose gave him a pointed stare.

“Hello I’m James….call me James….my name’s James” the Doctor tried the name a few times testing how it sounded to his ears and felt coming out of his mouth.

“I think it works and I can think of a few James’ that you have a thing or two in common with.”

“Name one.” The Doctor challenged.

“Well the first one that pops into mind is James Potter.” Rose pointed at the book behind the Doctor’s head.

Glancing up he spotted the book Rose was pointing to. “Hmm clever, a bit mischievous--.”

“Arrogant, don’t forget he could be a bit arrogant at times.” Rose piped in.

The Doctor ignored her, “he could be a bit of a rebel--.”

“Ooo if you’re going to bring up rebellious don’t forget about James Dean, can’t get much more rebellious than him, bit of an adrenaline junkie too. There’s James Cook the famous explore. Oh and James Bond, can’t forget him--.”

“Not the first person to bring us up together in the same sentence, you know.” The Doctor puffed his chest up a bit in pride.

“Really?”

“Yeah back when I first started traveling with Martha...there was this thing...I had to wear a tux…”

“Nothing good ever happens when you wear one of those.”

“Aye, I said the same thing and pattern held true to form that night too.”

“I expect a detailed story about that Mister.”

“Later, busy with something else right now.” The Doctor gave her a peck on the back of her hand as a silent promise. “Oh there’s also James T. Kirk - Charming, good looking, charismatic, great under pressure--.”

“A total ladies man.” Rose laughed at the put out face the Doctor made at that. “Face it Mister you are a ladies man intended or not. Just got a smooth way about you, not bad on the eyes either, but it’s ok I know who your heart truly belongs to and that I don’t have to worry about you having a girl in every port.”

“Good cause I don’t.” He pulled Rose in for a searing kiss. “And I never will. Your it for me Rose Tyler.”

“And you’re it for me.” Rose returned the kiss, but pulled away before it could descend into a right proper snogging session that could lead to them being in a very compromising position if anyone were to walk in on them. That one time with Tony had been more then enough to make them self conscious about where their snogging took place and to make sure doors were closed  _ and _ locked. “Now where were we? Of course there’s James Earl Jones voice of Darth Vader, can’t leave him out.”

“Ummm Rose Darth Vader was the villain. Are you saying I’m a villain?” The Doctor frowned.

“No I’m not calling you a villain.” Rose moved to sit in the Doctor’s lap, wrapping her arms around his neck. “Yes he may have been the villain, but you have to admit Darth Vader was a badass, he didn’t take crap from nobody. He knew what he wanted and went after it, heaven help anyone who got in his way or crossed him. Just the mere mention of his name struck fear into the hearts of his enemies”

The Doctor rolled his eyes but let that one go, “so James, we’re good with it?”

“Yeah, we are.” Pulling one of her arms lose Rose held her hand out to shake the Doctor’s. “Hullo James I’m Rose pleasure to meet you.”

“Pleasures all mine.” the Doctor shook back.

“Right so that’s one name down, just need a middle and a surname.” Considering how long it had taken them to decide on just the one name so far Rose figured she should get settled in for the long haul.

“Well actually I’ve been thinking about it and…” the Doctor started tugging at his ear - a nervous tick he’d pick up somewhere. Rose wondered if he even realized that he did it when he was nervous or uncertain. “I think I already know what I want to use.”

“Let’s hear it.” Rose took hold of the Doctor’s hand lowering it to his lap, stopping him from tugging.

“I know this whole thing is supposed to be about me moving forward with my life, but I don’t want to completely cut ties I’d like to have my name have some connection to my old life, if not in an obvious but subtle way.”

“Understandable.”

“I was thinking of using Thete as my middle name.”

“Thete? That’s certainly a new one for me. How’d you come up with that one?” Again the hand went up and started tugging. 

“Well...see it was kind of my nickname as a child….well actually it was Theta Sigma, but it was shortened to Thete more often than not. To Time Lords a given name is something very deep and personal, not something they tell to just anybody. So as youth we tended to give each other nicknames and used those until we graduated from the Academy and moved into adulthood and could choose the name we wanted the stars to know us as. Some of course choose to keep using their nicknames, while others like myself choose new ones….Thete it’s a reminder of my life before, a connection to Gallifrey…”

“Then that’s what it’ll be.” Again Rose stilled his tugging hand. ‘ _ I swear one of these days he’s gone tug the thing clean off,’  _ she thought. “And for your surname?”

“Foreman…” the Doctor ducked his head and once again started tugging on his poor abused ear - Rose gave up, she knew when to pick her battles and this wasn’t the time nor place. “It was my….”

Rose didn’t hear the end of that sentence since the Doctor mumbled it so low, “Sorry didn’t catch that last part, say again.”

“It- it was my granddaughter's. She used it when we first came to Earth. It’s a way to remember…. to honor my family…it’s….it’s….”

“Perfect.” Rose leaned in to seal the statement with a kiss. 

“You think so?”

“Yes Thete and Foreman connect you to your past, honor your roots and James is something new, a connection to the future, things to come. It’s a name that has meaning even if we’re the only ones that truly know what that is. So yes I think James Thete Foreman is a perfect name for you.” Rose ducked in again to punctuate her statement with a kiss.

Just as the Doctor was starting to really get into the moment Rose pulled back, “Now that, that’s settled we just need to fill out some paper work so that we can hand it off to Dad and he can hand it off to his people and they can get the legal forms made up.” Standing up from the Doctor’s lap Rose went back to the desk and started shuffling papers around trying to find the right ones.

"Rose?” the Doctor spoke up from where he still sat in the chair.

“Hmm?” Rose glanced up briefly not stopping her search.

“Rose…” he reached over to grab one of her hands halting her search. Feeling the sudden shift in mood Rose turned her full attention to the Doctor. Standing up he took her other hand as well and looked her straight in the eye, “If I’m going to start building a life for myself here you need to start building one as well.”

“I have a life here.” Rose tried pulling away suddenly not able to look the Doctor in the eyes.

“Do you?” Not willing to let it go the Doctor caringly grabbed Rose’s chin forcing her to look at him. “You’ve lived in this universe how long and you still live here in the mansion with your parents? The Rose I once knew never would have been able to tolerate that for very long, too independent. You only stuck around the Powell Estate before for your mother’s sake, didn’t want her to be alone. But Rose she’s not, not anymore, she has Pete and Tony now she’ll be ok and even if she didn’t have them she’d still be ok - A fighter and a survivor your mother. Hell Rose I’ve only been here a couple of months and I’m pretty sure I’ve managed to accumulate more possessions than you in the  _ years _ you’ve been here.”

“Yeah well you’re a natural born pack rat.” She tried deflecting.

“Not the point.” He refused to be distracted. “You never even made a token effort at trying to settle in and establish relationships, just spent every waking moment trying to leave--”

“Trying to get back to you!” Tears welling in her eyes Rose pulled away trying to put some distance between them.

“Oh no you don’t.” The Doctor caught her wrapping her in his arms. “No more trying to run away from this...for either of us. If we’re gonna make this work we have to stop running.”

“Ha! This coming from the man who’s been running since he was eight years old.”

“Yes, and I’m standing here telling you enough is enough. It’s time to stand our ground, time to face the domestic side of life….together.”

“Together…?” Rose finally stopped trying to pull away and wrapped her arms around the Doctor.

“Yeah together, because let’s face it you and I are rubbish at doing this domestic stuff on our own.” Not completely letting go of her the Doctor stepped back just enough to be able to gaze lovingly into Rose’s eyes. “So what do you say Rose Tyler, are you willing to go on this new adventure with me and face probably the most terrifying thing we’ve ever faced - domestication?”

“James Thete Foreman, I would love nothing more.” This time when Rose kissed the Doctor she poured everything she had into it leaving no doubts. Not caring that they were in a common area and that anyone could walk in on them the Doctor lifted Rose in his arms setting her on the desk and proceeded to give here the snogging of a life time.

“Oi! Don’t make me get the hose.” Jackie’s shrill cry was like a bucket of ice water being thrown on the pair. “We agreed all aggressive forms of PDAs were to be kept out of the common areas. You have a room use it.”

Pulling away with a frustrated growl the Doctor glared daggers at the back of Jackie’s head as she searched through a cupboard on the far wall. Trying to muffle her own protest Rose buried her head in the Doctor’s shoulder “Yeah first thing tomorrow we start looking for our own place, agreed?” She kept her voice low so as to not be overheard by her mother (neither Rose nor the Doctor were in any state to go the ten rounds they would inevitably have to go with Jackie when she found out their plans).

“Agreed.” With that the Doctor decided to take Jackie’s advice, grabbing Rose’s hand he lead her from the library up the stairs towards their room fully intending to finish what Jackie had so rudely interrupted.

“A pair of rabbits those two, I tell ya.” Jackie mumbled to herself as she found what she was looking for and left in the opposite direction.


End file.
